Born From A Boombox
by Ryn of Magic
Summary: Adriana had a passion for dancing that was only rivaled by that of her brother, Robert Alexander III, or Moose. So going to NYU for dance is the obvious choice, right? Only... during her stay, Adriana learns what it means to be a Pirate. Luke/OC COMPLETE
1. NYU

**A/N – Alright. Just like with BBM, there are references in this story to the other OCs in my other Step Up stories. Jenna, from BBM, is a little more important in this story than Tara was in BBM. I would suggest reading that one first.**

**Disclaimer – As much as I wish I did, I do not own any of the Step Up movies.**

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><p><em>Why do you dance?<em>

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><p><em>Because it's like breathing. It's like walking to me.<em>

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><p><em>I'm not pretending. When I dance, I don't pretend.<em>

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><p><em>I'm more myself when I dance than any other moment in the day.<em>

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><p><em>I dance to become someone else.<em>

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><p><em>There are so many things in this world that want to push down on you. But when you dance, you are free.<em>

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><p><em>When did you start dancing?<em>

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><p><em>We started dancing at the age of seven, in our house, in the living room. Just dancing, dancing, copying Michael Jackson.<em>

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><p><em>And I'm listening to the music in the grocery store, just, like, dancing through the aisles and stuff like that. She's like, "Contain yourself. Calm down!" And I'm like, "I can't stop. I have to do it, I have to do it!"<em>

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><p><em>After everybody went to sleep, I would open the garage and just practice.<em>

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><p><em>That's pretty much when I knew, like, I loved it because I had never dedicated so much time and effort into something like that.<em>

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><p><em>It's not us just jumping around. Dance has vocabulary.<em>

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><p><em>Where are you from?<em>

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><p><em>Inglewood.<em>

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><p><em>I'm from Argentina.<em>

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><p><em>I am from Northern Uganda.<em>

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><p><em>Miami, Florida.<em>

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><p><em>Koreatown, Los Angeles.<em>

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><p><em>Why did you leave?<em>

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><p><em>There's a lot of gangs and violence.<em>

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><p><em>I couldn't be stuck there all my life.<em>

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><p><em>My village was attacked.<em>

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><p><em>My parents didn't even want me around anymore.<em>

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><p><em>She actually kicked me out of the house.<em>

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><p><em>I had to go.<em>

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><p><em>Dance saved me.<em>

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><p><em>Dance definitely saved me.<em>

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><p><em>If it wasn't for dance, I don't know what we would be doing now.<em>

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><p><em>I didn't have anything, didn't have money. I was living with 15 dollars a week in New York City.<em>

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><p><em>Dance brought us together, too. All around the world, we're here.<em>

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><p><em>Truth is, everybody's a dancer inside.<em>

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><p><em>We all have a heartbeat.<em>

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><p><em>We all have a rhythm inside.<em>

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><p><em>What's that one thing you say?<em>

_Yeah, what do you call us?_

_Born from a boom box?_

_Yes, that's it!_

_Born from a boom box._

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><p><em>It may sound stupid, but I do feel like that. And if we listen hard enough, we may realize that maybe we're all plugged into the same song.<em>

_Born from a boom box._

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><p>I smiled as I walked next to Moose, Camille, and my adoptive parents. We were on a collage tour of New York University. Moose, Camille and I were all freshmen.<p>

"Mom, Dad, you can really go" Moose told them as they continued to walk with us on the tour, though they were the only ones.

"No! We're going to take you, Camille, and Adriana out for dinner" Mom insisted. "We promised her parents we'd beat her" she told us again.

"We're already paying for a meal plan, we're all good" Moose said. Camille and I grinned at each other, trying desperately not to laugh.

"Yeah, we really are Mrs. A" Camille reassured her. Mom looked at me.

I shrugged. "Since when do I eat when I'm supposed to?" I said, my Spanish accent was still there, though not as prominent as it had been when I had first come to America to live with them.

"We should go" Dad said, putting his hand on Mom's back to lead her away.

"One last picture" Mom insisted. "Scoot together, you're like best friends" she said, pushing me and Moose closer to Camille, who was in the middle.

"Ready? Say 'Mom is pretty'" she instructed as she raised the camera, Moose's arm around Camille's shoulders and mine around her waist as she wrapped her arms around both of us.

"Mom is pretty" we repeated obediently.

"Thank you!" she said before finally taking the picture. By now, we had lost the rest of the tour group.

"If my father could see me now, saying good-bye to my son the future engineer" Moose, Camille, and I exchanged glanced. I knew Moose felt pressured into doing this, and his heart wouldn't be completely into it.

"I'm just happy you're done with that dance business, I can't tell you" he said. It hurt to hear him say that, since I was still dancing, though I never told him that.

"No, but you have" Moose muttered. I knew he missed it.

"Alright, you two make me proud" Mom said.

"This is it" Moose told her, hugging her. "Take care of Jenna for me, would ya?"

"I don't understand why she isn't going to NYU as well" Mom hadn't dropped the subject since she learned Moose's girlfriend wasn't going to college.

"Mom, she has a steady, good-paying job. She's not gonna leave that for a college education she doesn't need yet" Moose reminded her.

"Besides, what's the Baltimore Big Mouth if she's not in Baltimore?" I teased. "Bye Mom" I said, taking my turn.

She smiled at me. "You may not have been born into this family, Adrianna, but you are just as much my daughter as Robert is my son" she told me. I nodded.

"We'll make you proud if we can just go to orientation" we said the last part at the same time.

"No, you're my babies" she cried teasingly.

"We'll call you when we get to the dorms" with those words, we went our separate ways.

I looked at Moose. "Mom's weird" I said as if discussing the weather.

He chuckled. "You're just figuring that out now?" I laughed and looped arms with Camille in front of him.

"Wow, they really…" Camille trailed off.

"Are embarrassing" Moose finish for her.

"I was gonna say love you two, but" Just then some dude just a few years older than us knocked into Moose. He mumbled a quick apology but didn't turn around as he walked.

"Yo, yo, yo, yo, Cam, Ana, check those out" he said, pointing to the dude's shoes. "Limited addition gunmetal Nike dunks" he said, and I realized just what he was saying.

"No way" I gasped.

"Uh oh, I know those looks" Camille said, realizing what we were thinking. "Okay, Moose, seriously, next on the tour, Union Square" she didn't bother with me. Camille had given up trying to discourage me a long time ago.

"I just want to get a closer look, we'll be right back, cover us" and with that we were off, though I threw her a quick "Sorry" as we chased after the dude with the shoes.

We were walking through a crowd and Moose didn't even realize it. That is, until we reached the center, where we saw something we were familiar with.

It was a dude dressed in almost all black dancing. More than one, actually. But people were placing bets. I shook my head, I hated that part of street dancing. It make is… dirty.

Someone pushed Moose and me into the center, and the dudes looked at us. Moose tried to get out of it as they insisted we dance. I looked at him and grinned.

The kid in black started dancing, making fun of Moose. I shook my head. He was breaking fine, but he wasn't really in it. "Él no tiene corazón" (_He has no heart_) I muttered to Moose. I had tutored him in Spanish, so he knew what I meant.

I looked at Moose and shrugged. He nodded and gestured for me to begin. The people in the crowd looked at me.

I walked to the center and started to move.

"Wow!" I heard as soon as I started moving. Then Moose joined me. We walked over to a small picnic table. We stood on it as we danced, sometimes doing moves off of each other. The kid jumped up and pushed us off, trying to get back the crowd favor.

After he did a no-handed cartwheel off the table, it was our turn again.

It was obvious we had the crowds favor as the cheered us on. I couldn't help but start laughing as Moose started popping the bubbles.


	2. The Vault

**A/N - I'm a little surprised at the... enthusiastic reaction to this story, since my first two did not get much traction. Happy, but surprised. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Brief glance at Luke's POV<strong>

I turned away from recording some dancers as I heard the loud cheering, louder than earlier. I walked over to see a guy and a girl who looked to be only a few years younger than me using their surroundings as they danced.

They were amazing. Then I looked closer at the girl. She looked slightly Hispanic, with her tanned skin and thick dark hair. Her clothes, while as decent as a tank-top and sweats could be, showed her slender but curvy figure.

But not only was she beautiful, the look on her face when she was dancing…

And then she was laughing as her male counter-part stared popping bubbles. I had to admit, these kids were awesome.

**Back to Adrianna's POV**

Suddenly a bunch of balloons popped as Moose and I jumped behind a small wall-like-bench. There was a bunch of steam and suddenly a ton of balloons were flying into the air.

I looked at Moose. We were in so much trouble. The balloon vender started calling for the cops and pointing at us as the crowd laughed.

But then, a dude with a camera grabbed us. "Come on, they're after you! Go!" He started running, and we were close behind him.

I laughed slightly. Running from the cops. Isn't that what got me into the system in the first place?

We slowed down slightly when we saw our path blocked by a hot god stand. "What are you doing?" Moose asked him, but I just grinned.

"Jump, first, questions later" he said before taking off again. He grabbed the bar just under the umbrella of the stand and jumped through the small window without touching anything.

"Wow" I heard Moose say faintly before fallowing the dude. But instead of jumping through, I used a couple trashcans as steps and then ran along the wall over the stand before landing hard of the ground on the other side.

We followed him up to a tall gate, where he stopped. "My ribcage. I have to tell you I just threw up in my mouth" he gasped.

I wrinkled my nose. "Gross Moose. Demasiada información (_Too much information_)"

"Where are you going" Moose asked the dude, ignoring me. The guy was walking away, playing with his camera.

"No. How did you just do that back there?" he asked again. "I mean, you're like, freaking flying man" Moose kept talking, fallowing him. I reluctantly fallowed.

"Moose, I don't think he wants two strange freshmen running from the cops following him around, lo deje solo (_Leave him alone_)"

"Nah, it's okay. "I'm Luke" he said, finally stopping and shaking hands with Moose.

"No, it's like this, you gotta blow it up" he said, holding up his fist. I smiled and shook my head as Moose tried to teach a virtual stranger his thing.

Luke did his own handshake making moose go speechless. "How's that?" Luke said before walking away.

"I'm Robert Alexander III, by the way, and that hot-blooded little Spanish dancer is Adrianna, my sister" I rolled my eyes at my introduction. Moose loved to tease my hot temper and even hotter dancing by calling me a hot-blooded Spanish dancer. I was from Spain, after all.

"Just, since you asked" Moose continued. "But you can just call me Moose"

"I haven't seen you around" Luke said, moving some things around the alley.

"We just got here. We're starting NYU. Moose here's an engineer" I said.

"You're gonna be dancing too?"

Moose reluctantly shook his head as I told Luke "Moose had to give up dancing"

"I mean, dancing was cool in high school but it's time for us to face the real world" he asked. Luke looked at him in disbelief.

"You really have no idea what you did back there, do you? You're BFAB" he said. The saying was familiar.

"BFAB" Moose asked, confused.

"Born form a Boombox" Luke told us. "Some people learn to dance, others are born to. And you're in New York City. The dancer center of the world" he grabbed a flyer from a wall. "Check this" he said, handing it to Moose as I read over his shoulder.

The cover was World Jam. "It's the biggest battle ever"

I chuckled and nudged Moose. "They said about The Streets. Remember?" I said. Moose grinned and nodded.

"There's never been this kind of prize money. And those guys in the park? They're gearing up for this. You guys are good enough. You should be in this" Luke explained.

I looked at the paper longingly. I sighed. Then Luke pulled back an old cloth to reveal a sweet looking two door car. "That's your car?" Moose asked. "Oh, that's so sick!" Luke opened the door for us. Moose climbed into the back for some reason. I knew he liked sitting in the front.

"Get in. What you saw at the park today is just the beginning" I bit my lip, thinking of Camille and feeling guilty. But there was something about Luke… and there was dancing. I'm in.

And so I climbed in. Luke shut the door for me, climbed into the driver's seat, and we were gone.

We drove until it was dark. Moose started over-enthusiastically pointing things out, which made Luke and I laugh. I thought I saw, from the corner of my eye, Luke watching me, but when I turned he was still looking at the road. I guess I imagined it.

Finally Luke pulled into another alley on the other side of the city. He got out and, before I could open it myself, opened the door for me. I couldn't help but blush slightly, and hoped the color didn't show very well on my dark cheeks.

"What the heck is this place?" Moose asked as he got out.

"Come on" was all Luke said, leading us inside. "Welcome to my house. House of Pirates" he said, pulling on a sliding piece of metal working as a door/wall to reveal an old-fashioned elevator.

"Nice place" Moose said mildly. "It's a little small to live in" I smacked Moose on the arm. "Hey!" he cried.

Luke pushed down a lever and the elevator started moving, surprising Moose. "My parents converted this place years ago. We all live and train upstairs and run a club downstairs to make end meet" he said.

Moose poked me and pointed at a sign that read 'Warning: all persons riding on this freight elevator do so at their own risk'. I smiled and looked back at Luke.

"Kind of like a secret hide-out" Luke continued. "Alright, this is it" he said, stopping the freight elevator. "We call this The Vault" he pushed open some doors to reveal the coolest room I had ever seen.

There was a set of stairs in the middle of the room leading to another tory, a pit on the left half of the room and a table on the right side of the stairs. But the coolest part? There was people dancing everywhere and music was on real loud.

"Around here, dance is your identity" Luke told us, leading us around. "We live together, work together, battle together, but unlike other crews, we all have different styles" he said, pointing to the different groups doing different styles of dancing.

"I found all of these guys out in the city. Crazy talent, but no place to go" I saw a dude doing flips in a corner that as completely covered in pillows, probably for protection if you fell, but a realistic floor, unlike a trampoline which I had first learned on. First time I did a flip on the floor I forgot the ground didn't move with me and I broke my wrist.

"We become a kind of pseudo-family here. Where we can be ourselves and rules don't apply" Luke told us. I looked around.

I was kind of sad there was no salsa or other kinds of dance we did on the streets in Spain, but I was not disappointed. Luke was right, these kids were crazy talented.

"This place is off the chain" Moose told him.

Luke smiled and pointed at something. "Thing one and thing two over there? That's Santiago Twins" he said.

One of them pointed at us. "You. You two. We saw you dancing at the park. You were-"

"Amazing"

"You were great"

"You are from another planet"

"Your own planet. Your own word"

"You two are just amazing."

They were talking so fast it was a little hard to understand.

When they finally paused, I asked, "Santiago? Isn't that Spanish?" They looked at me. And looked. And looked. Finally I sighed in exasperation and shook my head. "Adrianna Gonzalez. Born and partially raised in Barcelona, Spain" I told them.

The twins started blabbering again, until Luke interrupted them. "Guys, come on, no questions. I gotta show them around" finally they stopped talking and walked away. I heard one of them say hurry up in Spanish. That answered my question.

"Ah, Luke" a guy with an African accent walked up to us.

"Jacob!" Luke slapped hands with Jacob and introduced us. "Meet Moose and his sister, Adrianna" Jacob shook hands with him,

"Please to meet you Moose" and them he grabbed my hand, but instead of shaking it, he kissed it. Instead of blushing and stuttering, as most girls would, I arched my eyebrow.

"Smooth. But I'm not gonna fall for that. When it comes to romantics, the French got nothing on us" I said. I knew they could all hear my Spanish accent clearly.

"This guy right here" Luke said, putting his hand on Jacob's shoulder. "He's the captain of the ship."

Jacob grinned. "More like first mate. I heard you did some impressive work in the park today"

Moose looked around. "How does everybody know that?" he asked.

"News travels fast when you beat someone like Kid Darkness" Jacob told us. Moose and I glanced at each other in confusion.

Jacob turned to Luke. "I need to borrow you for one second. We've got some things…" I then noticed the papers in Jacob's hands, but Luke didn't seem to want to talk about it.

"Can we wait? I gotta show them around"

Just then, a bunch of dancers came bouncing over. "We'll take them!" One of the guys raised his hand to volunteer.

"Yeah, we'll show them around!" Another added as they stopped in front of us.

"I don't know about that, guys" Luke said hesitantly, though he had a small smile on his face.

"Come on please"

All three started to talk at once, but I couldn't help but smile when I heard the middle one say "What would Jesus do?" Moose and I laughed.

"Alright. Don't hurt him" Luke said.

"Him?" I arched my eyebrow.

Luke nodded. "Yeah, from what I saw, you can take care of yourself."

I nodded. "True that" Moose's mouth hung open in disbelief as he looked back and forth between me and Luke as we made fun of him.

"Ana, Moose, these are the Ticks. Good luck"

With that, Luke walked away. They wrapped their arms around us and led us to another part of the Vault.


	3. To Be Continued

**A/N – I honestly have no idea what a major in dance entails, so go with me here. I am leaving to go camping tomorrow. there will not be any more updates until Wednesday. Sorry, folks. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>With Luke, 3rd POV<strong>

"These came from the bank today" Jacob told Luke, handing him the statements. "We're six months late on our payments" Luke looked at the papers in shock.

"We paid them last month" he said, confused.

"Yes, and what about the other five?" was Jacob's dry reply.

"We're working on it man, the club's not making the money it used to" Luke told him as if Jacob was the one who could make all their problems go away.

"The bank doesn't want to hear that. They want the money and if they don't get it they're going to put the Vault up for public auction" Jacob explained.

"Listen, don't I always have a plan. This kid Moose, and his sister Adrianna, they beat Kid Darkness today. And they did it with style" he said, watching as Moose and Adriana did some miny-moves as the other Pirates clapped a beat.

"With a little bit of training, those kids could be the spark that we need to get everyone together and win the hundred grand from the World Jam and pay back what we owe" Luke told him. "Look, Jacob, we're not gonna lose the Vault, alright? We won't let that happen."

Jacob gave Luke a hard look. "Just be sure that you don't get distracted by your attraction to Adrianna" Luke looked at him confused, trying to hide his light blush. "I saw the way you looked at her. And I think she could be good for you. But you need to remember what's at stake here"

**Back with Adrianna and Moose, Adrianna's POV**

"No, you don't understand. Nobody's ever smoked Kid Darkness AND got it on tape" someone said, showing us the video of Moose and I dancing on their phone as we stood around a table, crowded. They all cheered when they saw Moose and I jump into the balloons.

"You think the Samurai's just gonna let you go like that? They'll find you, and they'll battle you again" someone walked over and said as if that was going to intimidate us.

"The Sama-who?" Moose asked.

"The House of Samurai" one of the Ticks said.

"The most cut-throat house I the city" Santiago Uno – as I had taken to called him (His twin is Santiago Dos) – told us.

"Our fiercest rival" Santiago Dos added.

"What do you mean they're gonna find us?" Moose asked in a worried voice, his arm wrapping around my shoulders protectively.

"They've got technology now, you know like the bears with GPS inside?"

"Watch out, they're behind you!" a Tick said, making us laugh.

I felt Luke's hand on my shoulder as we all started laughing, the tense atmosphere going away. "Okay, okay, that's enough. Don't let them freak you out" Luke said. "You're with us now"

"And nobody messes with us" Jacob added. "Not even the Samurai"

"Not unless you wanna get roasted!" One of the Ticks said, causing everyone but Moose to cheer. I looked at him, worried.

"Unless they want to get a big patada in their traste" the twin laughed, but everyone else was confused.

"What?" the Tick asked. We looked at them in exasperation.

"Okay, you don't get it, but I know what I'm saying" Santiago Dos told him, making Luke and I laugh.

"They said 'Unless they want to get a big kick in the ass'" I translated easily.

"You speak their language?" A Tick asked me, shocked.

I chuckled. "I'm from Barcelona. Of course I speak Spanish." I rolled my eyes.

I felt Luke leave and looked up to see him walking over to a screen that showed what was going on in the club downstairs. I silently and unnoticeable got up and walked over until I was standing next to him.

On screen was a girl about my age, dancing like nobody's business – which was almost as good as me. But not quite.

"Hey Moose, Ana, come on. I'll show you guys around the club downstairs" Luke waved us over to him.

It was…weird…hearing someone besides my family call me Ana. But I liked it.

The crew groaned, but I just tugged Moose along after Luke.

The club was crazy. It was every kind of dancing mixed together. The hip-hop we did at MSA, street, dirty… It was cool. A little creepy, but really cool.

Moose and I stopped as we watched a dude do some crazy acrobatics on the floor. "It's crazy, right?" I heard Luke's voice in my ear. "Hang out, take a look around. I'll be back in a second."

"I'll be right back" I murmured in Moose's ear as I followed after Luke, but I'm not sure Moose even heard me, he was so enthralled.

I followed after Luke into another part of the club. He was following after that girl I had spotted on his screen. He was following after her with his camera, and she was clearly performing.

I had to admit, I was jealous. Luke was cute.

So, instead of following him around, I went back and started dancing.

**3rd POV**

Luke had been following that girl he'd seen, but as soon as they got back into the center of the club, he lost her.

Luke looked around, trying to find her again, but was distracted by an abnormally large crowd surrounding someone he couldn't see.

He pushed his way through, camera at the ready, but he was too stunned to lift it when he saw who it was at the center of attention.

Adriana was dancing solo. Her moves made it look like she had no bones, they were so fluid. With her mass of long, black hair whirling around her, changing directions with every quick movement, she looked magical.

It was seductive, but at the same time, up-lifting. She was clearly projecting her love for dancing in her movements, but she was captivating because of how she moved.

It was insane hat that girl could do in skinny jeans and a pair of heels.

Luke had lost all interest in the other girl as he watched Adriana. His eyes didn't leave her, even when she met his gaze. With a smirk, she left the circle, leaving a bunch of disappointed observers, and wandered over to him.

"Got your attention, did I?" she teased, placing a hand on his shoulder to balance herself after all the constant movement of dancing.

"Where's you learn to dance like that?" he asked her. He hadn't expected that out of her when he saw her out by NYU.

She simply laughed and moved further into the club. He followed after her, recording her moves.

They were both distracted by screaming. The dancing stopped and people backed away. They spotted Moose running from a couple of thug-ish looking guys.

Utilizing the cleared floor, they started performing for the crowd, which stopped screaming and started cheering.

The rest of the Pirates surrounded Moose, ready to defend him. They knew who had come after him.

Kid Darkness tried to challenge Moose, but the Pirates pushed him away.

"I just want a few rounds with the kid. We got some unfinished business, me and you" he claimed, pointing at Moose.

Luke stepped up front. "You wanna get to him. You got to go through us" he said darkly, towering over Kid Darkness.

"Come on, Luke. Be a good sport" A tall, bald, white guy stepped forward.

"What are you doing here, Julien?" Luke asked harshly.

Julien smirked. "Nice to see you, too."

"I mean it. Get your boys and get off our property" Luke demanded.

"Your property?" Julien asked sarcastically. "It's not gonna be your property for much longer. And don't worry. When I buy this place, I'll take good care of it."

"When we win the World Jam, you and your trust fund won't be able to touch us" Luke countered.

"Whoa" the crowd called.

"That's cute" Julien snapped. "Your boy can't even finish his battles."

"I'll finish you, you cobarde! Tú eres débil y celoso porque mi hermano es un mejor bailarín" (_Coward! __You are weak and jealous because my brother is a better dancer_). Adriana screamed, pushing her way to the front so she could scream at Julien.

"If you really want to insult someone, try doing it in their own language, sweetheart" Julien replied patronizingly.

"Enough, man" one of the Santiago twins called before Adriana got in trouble. "They will finish it at the World Jan and so will we."

"I don't even know what he just said" Julien laughed, making fun of the twin's accent.

"Yo, man, stop being disrespectful to my crew." another member stepped forward, smacking at Julien.

A fight broke out. Adriana was pulled away. No one was really trying to fight her, but she was in the crossfire of a lot of punches and dirty moves.

"Hey, get off!" Adriana looked over to see the girl Luke had previously been following in trouble. With a sigh at the guilt in her stomach, Adriana made her way over to save the girl.

"Back up!" she screamed once she had reached the girl. Without explanation, Adriana wrapped her arms around the chick and stuck her elbows out to create some space.

Luke spotted the two girls and quickly made his way over to them. "Come on, I'll get you out of here" he said, pulling them away.

He shoved them into the photo booth, which had barely enough room for two, let alone three.

"You two okay?" Luke asked, shutting the curtain to hopefully no one noticed they were in there.

"Yeah, thanks" the chick nodded. "Both of you" she glanced at Adriana.

"I'm Luke. This is Adriana" Luke introduced, holding out his hand.

"Natalie" she shook his hand.

"What's with the bags?" Adriana asked, noticing that Natalie had a couple of bags with her, more than the usual club-goer.

"Oh…" Natalie glanced down, frowning. "Supposed to be meeting my friend here, but she's a no-show" Natalie explained.

Adriana felt like she was intruding, and she also felt a little played as she watched Luke flirt with Natalie, but she didn't want to leave the booth and get back into the fight.

"What are you going to do?" Luke asked, grabbing a hold of Adriana's hand when he felt her move to leave the booth. He didn't want her in harm's way.

"I don't know. I haven't figured that out yet?" Natalie smiled.

"You could stay here" Luke suggested, tightening his grin on Adriana a little when he felt her tug. He looked at her, silently telling her not to leave. He pulled her closer to make sure she stayed put.

Natalie leaned back a little, seeing Luke pulling the other girl closer. "What, in the club?" she asked.

"No" Luke shook his head. "I mean, upstairs in the living room."

"You don't even know me" Natalie was stunned by a stranger's kindness.

"Yeah, I do. You're name's Natalie and you need a place to sleep" Luke shrugged, wrapping an arm around Adriana when he felt her tug again.

Adriana sighed and stopped fighting Luke. She felt a little better when he pulled her close, instead of getting closer to Natalie. It was catty, but she couldn't help it.

"Ok" Natalie nodded. "Sure. Thank you."

"Grab your stuff" Luke ordered, pulling them out of the booth and out of the club.

Once outside, Adriana pulled away. "Luke, I need to find Moose and get to my dorm. I have class in the morning" I told him, glancing back inside the club.

"Are you sure?' Luke didn't want Adriana to leave. He really liked her, and she was an amazing dancer.

Adriana smiled sadly. "Yeah, I gotta go. But I'll come back when I can, comprendes?" (_understand?_).

Luke nodded, glancing at Natalie. Adriana followed his gaze, and her smile dropped. "You like her" before Luke could protest, Adriana added, "Take care of her" she started walking away. "I'll see you later, Luke!"

* * *

><p>The next morning, Adriana looked over her schedule and smiled. Adriana was a dance major, so she had fewer classes than Moose and Camille.<p>

Because of this, she was able to grab breakfast and head over to the Vault.


	4. Shoes and Flies

**A/N – Oh man, I'm so tired from camping, but we had so much fun! It was amazing! But, now I'm back, and you get another chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>No one was awake, which didn't surprise her, so she wandered around. She found the rehearsal room, which had a wall covered in boom boxes, set the box of pastries on a bench, and decided to get some practice.<p>

"Nice moves"

Adriana spun around. Natalie was standing behind the bench, munching on a pastry, smirking. "This is yummy."

"Thanks" Adriana replied hesitantly, stopping the music. "So, how was it staying at the Vault?"

"I don't know. This place is amazing, but I was asleep majority of my time here" Natalie walked closer, finishing off the pastry.

"It is that. So, are you dancing with the Pirates now?" Adriana was curious. She was still moving her feet, her body not ready to stop moving yet.

"Yeah, I guess so. What about you?" Natalie studied the Spanish beauty, curious about her history with Luke, since he seemed so possessive over her.

Adriana snorted. "I met Luke a few hours before we saved you" she shrugged. "We were in a tight spot, pissed off the wrong people, and he saved us. I guess that's his thing."

"I guess so" Natalie laughed.

Adriana smiled, warming up to the other girl.

"So, I saw your dance at the club. I was wondering…" Adriana grinned slyly. Natalie nodded for her to continue. "Can you actually dance, or are you aiming to be a stripper?"

Adriana couldn't help but laughed at the shock on Natalie's face. Natalie slowly smirked, crossing her arms. "How about this: I see you dance, you see me dance?"

Adriana thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Alright. You first"

The music began again, and Natalie took her turn to show off.

Luke had been woken up by the music and, thinking it was Natalie, headed to the rehearsal room, only to spy dark skin and black hair twirling across the floor, taking her turn of the floor.

Adriana hadn't noticed Luke's entrance, so she kept dancing, free-styling, but Natalie grinned and nodded Luke over.

"So, I see you found the speaker room" Luke called over the music when Adriana was between moves.

Adriana smiled and turned off the music.

"Built this myself when we could actually find boom boxes in the city" Luke told them, walking closer.

"It's amazing" Adriana beamed as she looked around the room. "Oh!" she remembered, "I brought breakfast" she pointed to the brown box on the bench.

"It's really good" Natalie nodded enthusiastically.

Luke smiled at the gesture. He was happy to see the two were becoming friends.

"You have class any time soon?" Luke asked, not bothering to grab any of the pastries.

Adriana shook her head. "Why?"

"Wanna train?" he grinned.

"Here?" Natalie asked, looking around.

"No" he nodded to the big windows. "Out there. Just try to keep up." He stepped closer, so her and Adriana were barely a foot apart. Natalie stepped back, feeling forgotten, and like she was intruding.

Adriana laughed. "I don't think we'll have any problems keeping up with you" she challenged, stepping closer, so their chests met, nodding towards Natalie, who smiled at her.

Luke grinned.

* * *

><p><strong>Adriana's POV<strong>

I felt elated as I flew across the rooftops. It wasn't just running, we were using our surroundings to practice moves, the way street-dancing should be done.

I had to admit, I never would have thought of using rooftops. I'd thought I'd seen everything in Baltimore, but New York was teaching me that there was always more to see.

I managed to stay ahead of Luke and Natalie for the most part as we raced to the NYU campus, but he beat us at the last second. We all slowed, breathing hard. "You have Moose's number?" I asked when I noticed Luke texting.

Luke nodded. I didn't bother to ask when he had gotten it.

"Luke, Moose might get in trouble if you text him during his class" I was hesitant to screw any of this up for my brother. School meant a lot to him.

"I'm sure it'll be fine" Natalie assured me, placing a sweaty hand on my shoulder. I playfully scrunched up my nose like I was discussed and pushed her hand away, making her laugh.

We had really bonded the short time we were together this morning.

Luke didn't say anything as he hit send. When we say Moose look over, we waved from the rooftop of the next building over.

It didn't take Moose long to meet up with us.

* * *

><p>"Open up the cages, boys" Luke ordered when we got back to the Vault. "Let' show these newbies why we call this the Vault."<p>

"Hey, Moose-boy"

"Adriana"

"How are you, my friends?"

The Santiago twins greeted us happily. I snorted at what they greeted Moose with.

"Don't let Mouth heard them call you that" I teased, knowing that everyone else could hear me.

"Mouth?" Luke asked, understandably confused.

"Moose's girlfriend. She's a DJ back in Baltimore. Her real name is Jenna, but Moose is the only one to call her that. To the rest of us, she's the Baltimore Big Mouth" I explained.

"What, your girlfriend is the Baltimore Big Mouth?" Natalie asked Moose in shock.

Moose sheepishly nodded. "Yeah. You've heard of her?"

Natalie laughed. "Yeah! My friend went down to Baltimore and said that Big Mouth was the best DJ she's ever heard!"

I grinned and wrapped an arm around Moose's shoulder. "My baby brother does good for himself" I bragged.

"Shut up" Moose blushed.

"And hello, other beautiful lady" the twins started fighting over Natalie, making us all laugh.

Once we were done ribbing Moose and joking with Natalie, we got down to business.

"Ladies and gentlemen" the Santiago Twin said dramatically. "Our most prized possessions" the waved their arms to a wall. I was stunned when the lights came on.

Rows of shoes. Not just any shoes.

"If dance is our weapon, then this is our armor" Santiago Uno explained.

"These are the most beautiful shoes in the world" Santiago Dos added.

"The way they smell"

"The way they feel"

The three of us browsed the shoes in awe. "Luke's lucky shoes" I glanced over at Moose when I heard this, and smiled when I saw him holding the shoes that had started all of this. "Smart boy."

"All right, Moose, don't get too attached" Luke warned. "You gotta earn your kicks in this house."

"Literally" I laughed.

* * *

><p>"And beyond door number two, the graffiti room" Luke explained, leading us through the different rooms of the Vault.<p>

"Who's that guy?" Moose asked as we wondered further into the room.

"That's Jason. He's our graffiti guru" Luke pointed. "I'm talking electronic billboard hacks, LED lights, anything to mark who we are."

"Did he do the graffiti on the floor of the club?" I asked, curious. That stuff was sick.

"Yeah, he did. Awesome, right?" Luke nodded.

"Dudes! Excellent timing" Jason turned to face us. He high-fived Luke and sat at the workbench. "I have been working on the portable light-tagging system and I can't figure out how to get it to stick to 12-volt batteries."

I nudged Moose with my elbow. This was his thing. He had originally gone to MSA for lighting design, after all.

"You got any electrical tape?" Moose asked.

"Yeah. Here you go" Jason handed it to Moose.

"All right, check this out. Tape it right there" Moose showed him.

"Yeah?"

"Wrap it around, and it creates a snug fit" Moose explained.

"You know light?" Jason asked, impressed.

"Yeah, I dabble" I snorted at Moose's words. "Check it out" he tossed the light at the metal cables dangling from the ceiling. It stuck, and remained it. Moose was the only one without his jaw dropped.

"Yes!" Jason cried, jumping to his feet. "I love this kid" he cried, slapping a friendly hand on Moose's shoulder. "It's the LED to the battery to the magnet."

"These are amazing. They look like neon fireflies" I said, grabbed the lights and examining it. I shared a look with Natalie, sharing our fascination.

"Or like Neo flies" Jason mused.

"Yeah, totally" Natalie agreed.

"Neo flies. I like it" Jason leaned against another bench and crossed his arms.

* * *

><p>By dinner, Moose and Jason had finished a ton of lights, and everyone was amazed.<p>

Carlos whistles to get everyone's attention. "Listen up. World Jam is right around the corner, but to get there, we gotta get through the two qualifying rounds. Which means…"

"Which means, we got a lot of work cut out for us" Luke took over, looking over at us. "Moose, Adriana, Natalie, you guys in?"

The twins played a foreboding tune on the piano, making us all laugh.

"Um… I don't know, I have to go to school. I can't just…" Moose tried to explain. I nodded in agreement.

"We'll figure something out." Luke assured us, like it was no big deal. A part of me was charmed by his lack of care, but another part of me was a little miffed that he didn't care about our lives.

Everyone started banging on the table, chanting "Pirates" over and over, progressively louder.

"We could do one battle, guys" Moose conceded after we telepathically made a decision.

"Alright" Luke got them quite for a minute and turned to the other new girl. Without hesitation, Natalie stood. "House of Pirates!"

"Yes!"

* * *

><p>The next few days, I was at the Vault every day when I didn't have classes. Moose had less free time, but he was here when he could. I could tell it was hurting his relationship with Camille, but I also knew Moose missed dancing, he needed it.<p>

Leaving MSA really messed with Moose. I think he needed this, a crew to be a part of.

We were at a disadvantage, not being able to be at the Vault all the time like everyone else, but it didn't seem to affect us. I spent most of the rehearsals with Luke and Natalie, who was slowly becoming my best friend.

I introduced the Spanish style dance moves to the Pirates, at lot of the stuff I learned on the streets. Natalie introduced me to a lot of acrobatics.

But I think I loved it most when it was just me and Luke. We had this dance sequence that resembled fighting, but incorporated some of the acrobatics that Natalie had taught me.

Moose spent a lot of his nights working on the electrical for Jason. With all we got going, we were going to kill it at the qualifying round.


	5. Filmmaker

**A/N – Sun burnt and sore, so you get another chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Natalie convinced me to stay the night. Once rehearsal was over we grabbed some snacks and sat down in her little tent.<p>

"So… what's up with you and Luke?" Natalie asked me after we'd ben joking for, like, an hour.

I shook my head. "I dunno. I mean, I like him, but… I've been burned before, and I'm not really sure if he's in to me."

"Are you kidding me?" Natalie scoffed.

"What?"

"Luke is totally into you!" Natalie cried, playfully punching me in the arm. We both laughed, and a knocked her over, so she rolled onto her back.

"Yeah, yeah"

"I'm serious. He's always watching you. And it's not in that, 'Wow, what a great dancer' way, either" Natalie insisted.

"Can we change the subject" I rolled me eyes, tossing a piece of popcorn in the air and catching it in my mouth.

"How'd you do that?"

Natalie dropped the subject, and we both enjoyed our time together. Natalie had finally fallen asleep after another hour or two.

I was still wide away, so I decided to go find Luke.

"_They always think that we are just a bunch of kids with no direction_" I heard Jacob's voice as I found Luke in a room with a bunch of screens.

"_But what we do is very hard. We make it look easy._"

More voices as he played different clips.

I was amazed as I listened to the recording and watched the clips. I was really impressed. "This is… very nice" he jumped a little when he heard my voice, quickly pulling off the headphones and hung them around his neck.

"Hey!" he smiled brightly. "Thanks. I collect footage of dancers who inspire me." Just then, footage of me dancing in the club appeared on screen. Luke chuckled bashfully, and I couldn't help but giggle at his face.

"Perfect timing" I teased. "What are you planning on doing with it?" I gestured to the screens.

"I don't know" Luke pondered. "Nothing. I just play around with it."

We both watched the screen as a mix he made of various recording and footage played. It was amazing.

"I would never have guessed" I stared at him in awe.

"They're amazing, aren't they?" his eyes never left the screen, but mine never left him.

"I mean _you_" He looked up at me. I smiled softly. Luke never stopped amazing me. "All of this… it's incredible. You're a filmmaker."

Luke stared at me for a moment before chuckling and turning back to the computers. "What?"

"Nothing" he smiled, "I just usually don't show people this stuff." He admitted, leaning back in his chair.

My eyes flickered over to the screens, then back to Luke. "I'm honored" I told him sincerely. "Luke, this is amazing. I've never seen anything like it before, even at MSA."

Luke looked like he was contemplating something before he slowly nodded. "You wanna see more?"

"What, seriously?"

"Yeah" he smiled at my enthusiasm.

I quickly grabbed a chair and sat down next to him. "Promise not to laugh" Luke demanded. I couldn't understand why he was so self-conscious about this, but I wouldn't fight him on it.

"Of course not" I agreed readily.

My eyes never stayed on the screen, though. Because as incredible as the footage was… the man sitting next to me was even more so.

* * *

><p><strong>3<strong>**rd**** POV**

"Hey!" Luke looked back from his spot on the roof at Natalie. "Look who's up early now."

"Actually, I haven't been to sleep yet" Luke admitted, sitting down.

"Can I join you?"

"Sure" Natalie hopped up and sat to the left of Luke.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Natalie asked curiously.

"I come out here to listen. The river, the traffic, the birds" Luke looked around as he spoke, looking through the morning fog. 'Make me feel like I'm a part of something bigger."

"Traffic makes you feel like you're a part of something bigger?" Natalie asked flatly, making Luke laugh. "That is deep."

"Like I said, I've been up all night" Like reminded her.

"With a certain Spanish newbie?" Natalie teased.

Luke looked surprised.

"She woke me up when she came back. It was a lot later than when I had fallen asleep, and I've seen you two together. It's cute" it almost looked like Luke was blushing at the comment.

"Adriana is… amazing, really" Luke said carefully.

"She's a really great girl" Natalie agreed. "Did you know that she's only been with Moose and his family for, like, two years?"

"Really?" Luke was shocked. "They act like they've known each other forever."

"Yeah. She told me that Moose and his parents found her living on the streets in Barcelona and picked her up. Sound familiar?"

Luke nodded at the familiarity. "If she had gotten to New York, she might have already been a Pirate."

"But I wouldn't be the same girl I am today" they both jumped at looked back. Adriana was standing behind them with a blanket wrapped around herself. Her hair was in a high pony tail. Luke patted the spot next to him, and Adriana quickly sat down.

"My adoptive parents really did a lot for me. If I hadn't met them, and Moose, I would be a very different person" Adriana said again. She looked at Luke. "So, I was thinking about your video from last night."

"What video?" Natalie hadn't heard of any video.

"Luke's an amazing filmmaker. Anyway, I think you should finish it" she told him. "And you should show it to people. Besides me."

"I don't know about that" Luke didn't look away from the scenery in front of him.

"I mean, you love it, right?" Adriana pressed. Luke nodded. "You've been up all night and you're, like, glowing."

"Glowing?" Luke shot her a look before chuckling.

"It's like dancing for you. It's something that you just have to do, and it's something that you're great at. And it's something you should share with the world" Adriana tried to articulate her thoughts.

Natalie watched them thoughtfully. She was beginning to think of Adriana as a close friend, and it was kinda cute to watch her and Luke together. It was clear they liked each other.

Without a word, Natalie walked away. She didn't want to interrupt their moment.

Luke leaned in. Adriana really did amaze him, more than any other girl. She was passionate, stubborn, reckless, kind, considerate, and had this way of knowing just what to say to someone.

Luke had no idea how she managed her classes at NYU and being a Pirate.

Adriana's breath caught in her throat as Luke leaned closer. She wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them.

But she'd been burned before. And Luke was a good-looking guy. He could get any girl in the world.

So she pulled away.

From the other end of the rook, Natalie cursed.

Luke pulled back quickly, sensing the rejection and feeling a little hurt.

"We should get to Red Hook" Adriana said quickly, standing up and leaving Luke to his thoughts.

* * *

><p><strong>Adriana's POV<strong>

The Battle of Red Hook was insane, more so than The Streets. In The Streets, you danced with what you had, nothing more.

Here, crews were dancing with all kinds of shit. Chalk on their hands, chains, all kinds of stuff.

"Welcome! To Red Hook!" Someone shouted at we entered the battle, Luke in the lead. "The first round of World Jam!" we didn't enter the circle it wasn't time to battle, but we watched.

"Are you ready for a battle?" the guy in the middle shouted, playing to the crowd. We stood out, dressed in our normal clothes. There were some strange outfits out here tonight.

"Red Hook, are you ready?" the guy, who I know say had an eye patch – pointed to the opposing crew.

He turned to us. "Pirates, you ready?" Everyone else looked nervous, but Luke looked calm. We nodded.

"Let's get it!"

Red Hook had a very animalistic style, with a lot of skin, chalk, and chains. They were good, I had to admit. Of course, they wouldn't be here if they weren't good.

As the music changed, we took our stance in the huddle, slowly breaking out. We didn't pull out the big guns yet, mostly the simple stuff that we knew the crowd would eat up.

It went on like that, Red Hooks, then us, then the Red Hooks again.

Vladd was the real center piece. The dude rocked the robotic motions. It was ridiculous. All together, we were like salsa. Many different ingredients, to make something tasty.

"And the winner is…" the announcer called, waiting until everyone was quiet. The Red Hooks were already celebrating. "The Pirates!"

"Yes!" we were all cheering. We were cheering, the crowd was cheering, the only ones not cheering were the Red Hooks. "The Pirates are now into the next round of the World Jam!"

I grinned and looked around till I found Luke. When our eyes met, and ran over to him and jumped into his arms, squeezing him tightly. "We did it!" I cried happily in his ear.

We did it.

The Pirates were one step closer to the World Jam.


	6. Slurpee

**A/N – Hey guys. I'm not going to be able to pot this weekend, so there won't be another chapter till Monday, Sunday at the earliest. That is, if all goes well. Sorry for the ****inconvenience, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>3<strong>**rd**** POV**

"No, no, no"

"Yeah. Yeah"

The crew had found Luke's camera.

"Not it's time for you to be in front of the camera, my good-looking Pirate" Santiago Uno explained as the camera looking around.

"Yeah, do you want some makeup, baby?" Santiago Dos teased. His twin snorted.

"So. Captain Luke" Natalie pointed the camera back at Luke.

"Give me the camera."

"NO!" everyone denied him.

"It's not that easy on this side" Jason placed a 'comforting' hand on Luke's shoulder. "It's uncomfortable."

"Yeah, why don't you keep walking" Luke tried to get them to leave him alone.

"Ooh, look at this guy" everyone laughed, but they left Luke alone with Natalie and the camera.

"What do you love about dance?" she asked one of the questions she remembered Luke asking.

"I don't know" Luke actually thought about it. "Dance, music, it's just always been there for me, I guess."

Natalie was silent for a moment.

"Is that it?"

Luke looked startled. "What?" before he chuckled.

"Come on" Natalie laughed, "I know you can do better than that. What do you love about dance?"

Luke looked over into the other room, and Natalie followed his gaze with the camera. Adriana was teaching the Ticks how to salsa, and she was beautiful.

It wasn't just her appearance or her dancing, it was how she was interacting with her partner. She was laughing the whole time, but being kind as she instructed him.

"Oh, I see" Natalie playfully grinned.

"Nah," Luke shook his head and looked away. She looked over and saw them watching her, so she excused herself and walked over to them, plopping down next to Natalie.

"My parents used to be dancers. And they started this place for people like them, but they didn't just wanna be back-up dancers. You know, do their own thing, build their own respect. I thought that was cool, so I wanted to carry on the tradition, in my own way. But for them, you know?"

"So, what do they think of you turning this place into a madhouse?" Adriana couldn't help but ask.

Luke looked down. "They never got to see it."

Natalie shut the camera softly, all traces of her smile gone as she handed it back to Luke. "I'm so sorry" Adriana said softly, placing a gently hand on Luke's arm. His opposite hand reached up and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently.

"No, don't be. It's okay" he assured them both.

"So, that's why you're so devoted to this place?" Natalie asked, looking around briefly. "Carrying on what your parents wanted?"

"Family is family" Luke smiled. "The Vault used to be their life and now it's mine."

Natalie looked down. "It's amazing what we do for family, sometimes." she said roughly.

"So, what about your parents?" he asked the two girls.

"They split up a while back" Natalie explained. "And, uh, me and my older brother, we were sort of the dice that got rolled between them."

"Where's your brother now?" Adriana asked in concern.

Natalie felt horrible for the lies she was feeding them. About her parents she was telling the truth, but anything that involved her brother or how she got to them…

"We're still close" she said honestly. "I mean, he pretty much raised me. So, I owe him everything."

There was a heavy silence.

"I don't know anything about my parents" Adriana broke the silence with her quiet voice. Luke and Natalie looked over at her, but her head was bowed, so they couldn't see her face.

"I was bounced around in orphanages until I was twelve. I ran away, found myself living on the streets. I danced for money, and was able to keep myself fed and away from trouble for the most part." Adriana sighed and looked up at them.

"My adoptive parents found me when I was sixteen. Moose had seen me dancing, and started talking to me. He was just some goofy kid, so I figured he couldn't be any harm. Then his parents came over. They seemed to love me. They visited me every day. About a week after I had first met Moose, he figured out I was homeless. After about a month, his parents decided to adopt me."

Adriana chuckled. "Don't ask me how, all that legal crap went over my head. All I know, is that by the end of summer, I was living in Baltimore with an incredible family, going to a school where I can do what I love with people that shred my passion."

Adriana smiled.

"Hey, a happy ending" Natalie smiled.

"So, Tarantino" Natalie looked over at Luke. "Are you planning on blackmailing us with all that footage?"

"No, just you" they all smiled.

* * *

><p><strong>Adriana POV<strong>

"Okay, you gotta stop complaining" Luke laughed.

"Well, I feel ridiculous holding this giant cup. Lo es demasiado grande" I complained.

"What?" Luke laughed, confused.

"It's too big" I explained. "Okay, if you're going to be around me, I need to teach you some basic Spanish" I decided, moving the giant Slurpee to my other hand.

I looked over at one of the advertisements, and spotted something cool. "Hey, it's you!" I stopped and pulled Luke over to the thing.

"What are you talking about?"

"This guy looks exactly like you" I pointed to the ad for California Film School.

"That guy looks nothing like me, and I would not be caught dead with those culture vultures" Luke denied, walking away.

I skipped to catch up. "Nice alliteration." I said lightly. "Luke, I've seen your work." I insisted.

"Yeah, but it's just for fun, it's nothing professional" Luke shook his head, shoving his free hand in his pocket as we walked.

"If you didn't have to worry about the Vault, or the Pirates, or any of that… would you give your filmmaking a shot? That film academy sounds amazing, and you're really good, Luke" I took another sip of my Slurpee as he thought.

"Yeah, but it's not an option, so I don't think about it" Luke said firmly. "The World Jam's our main focus."

"Fine, fine. But… how do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Get all that amazing footage! It's awesome, better than anything I've ever seen" I started walking backwards so I could see Luke.

"I don't know. I just try to see thing that people don't normally see" Luke said nonchalantly, like it was no big deal.

"Show me?" I asked thoughtfully. He hesitated, so I stuck out my bottom lip and gave hime a puppy-dog eye look.

Luke grinned. "Alright, come here"

Luke led me down an alley, and then I got lost. I had no idea where we were or where we were going. "Where are you taking me?" I asked, giggling as I followed him.

"Just trust me" Luke climbed up a ladder.

I huffed softly at the bottom. "I do" I said to myself before I followed him up.

He reached down and grabbed my Slurpee so I could use both hands to get up on what looked like an air vent. It looked over the water. It looked so close I felt like I could touch it.

"Just wait for it" Luke told me when I was standing in front of him.

"For what?"

He didn't have to answer me. Almost immediately, the fan started up, and my hair went flying. It was a good thing I had tied it back into a pony tail for the dance class I had before meeting Luke.

"Watch this" Luke took a sip through his straw, then pulled his straw out of his cup. He blew some of his green Slurpee out the opposite end. Instead of it dropping, the Slurpee floated in the air before flying up.

"Oh, my gosh! That was increíble!" I tried to copy him, and purple Slurpee flew into the air.

We started making patterns, and I wished Luke had his camera. This was… out of this world. That is, until my straw flew out of my hand.

"My straw!" I cried, trying to grab it. It was too far away, so I had to give up. Luke smiled softly and pulled his straw out of his cup before placing it in mine, his eyes never leaving mine.

I looked down at the straw, then up. Luke had stepped closer, and we were chest-to-chest again. In that moment, all of my insecurities and hesitations ran away. It was just him, me, and this magical moment.

So, this time, I didn't pull back when he kissed me.

I don't know exactly how it happened, but when we pulled apart briefly, I was wrapped around Luke and my Slurpee was gone.

We both looked around and laughed at the flying Slurpee, but Luke quickly pulled me in for another kiss.

His lips were soft, and I could feel the heat radiating from his body as he held me close. He pulled the scrunchie out of my hair, letting it fly all over the place.

His hand cupped my head, his fingers in my hair. My hands were behind his neck, playing with the hair at the nap of his neck, content in that one moment.

* * *

><p><strong>3<strong>**rd**** POV**

"_All around, people were moving like nothing I had ever seen before. There was this one couple that working right outside my third orphanage. I would go outside and they would teach me to dance. I was probably eight years old when I started doing my own thing._"

Luke couldn't look away from his footage of Adriana. Her whole story, and her dancing, and everything… it was everything he was saying and everything the Pirates represented.

"_I started dancing because it was something beautiful in the harsh world that was all I could remember. It was something that allowed me to express myself without having to use worlds that can be twisted and used against me._"

He focused mostly on her eyes during the interview, though she spoke a lot with her hands. She did that a lot, he noticed, moving her hands around when she spoke.

"_I was born in Barcelona, Spain. I moved to Baltimore, Maryland when my family adopted me because my brother liked how I danced. I love dancing because it doesn't matter where you're from or what language you speak, everyone can understand what you're saying. I love dancing because it gave me my family_"

It was perfect. Paired with the footage he had of her dancing, it was perfect.

Luke smiled. Maybe Adriana had a point about his film stuff.

Then, his phone rang.


	7. To Lie

**A/N – Well... my weekend sucked. But, it looks like I might be getting a car within the week. fingers crossed. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Adriana's POV<strong>

We were late. I knew that. The Battle of Gwai was extremely important, but Moose and I were going as fast as we could.

I knew Moose had a big test. I knew that it was very important to him, almost as important as dancing.

I also knew he would do everything he could to get there.

I made it just in time for the battle to start.

"You're late" Luke said, grabbing me to stop me from crashing into anything as I ran at them.

"Class…test… majority of… my final grade… got here… as… fast… as… I could" I panted, leaning heavily against Luke. He gave me a minute to breathe, and eventually I was able to stand on my own.

"You ready?" Luke asked me, still holding on. I nodded. He nodded in return and let me go.

"Yo, where Moose at?" some of the guys wondered.

"I dunno, man"

"He'll be here" I said firmly.

Gwai was intense. They did a lot of acrobatics and fancy moves. We had kicked it up a little bit, matching them. We had a little more synchronized movements, but so far, we didn't have the edge.

Finally, Moose crashed in on his bike. Only, he hit an old lever on a water pipe to stop. Water started spouting from the floor.

"I'll get a towel" Moose assure as everyone yelled at him for ruining the floor. But then I remembered something Moose told me about the first year of the MSA crew.

"Moose" I yelled to get his attention. He looked over at me, a look of panic on his face. I kicked the water, spinning around.

Moose grinned as he understood. The Pirates quickly caught on, and we used the water to our advantage.

Gwai was strictly acrobatics and break dancing, and they couldn't move in the water. Moose's accident gave us our edge.

By the end, we were all soaking wet, but each and every one of us had a giant grin on our faces.

"Wow" the announcer cried in shock. "The Pirates are going to the World Jam!"

We did it!

* * *

><p>In celebration, we all went back to the Vault. We were hanging downstairs, playing Band Hero.<p>

"You! Hold up, Cut the music!" Luke cried out suddenly. "Cut the music" he sounded freaked out, so we quickly shut off the music and looked over at Luke, were he was sitting in his chair with his laptop.

"You guys need to see this" we crowded around Luke to see what was on his screen that freaked him out so much.

It was the World Jam website. Someone had leaked our rehearsal video.

"It's our entire routine" I groaned, pissed.

"Why is it online?" Santiago Uno wondered.

"I can't believe they know our set."

"Wait a minute, who would do this?" Moose asked.

"Julien and the Samurai" Luke said flatly, resting his head against his fist as he watched the video.

"How could they get our rehearsal footage?" Anala pointed out.

"Does everyone have their DVDs?" Luke asked angrily.

Everyone agreed softly.

"We're still in this, all right? We just got to figure something out" Luke assured everyone. I knelt down beside him and placed my hand over his, squeezing it. He squeezed back.

* * *

><p>Luke and I were looking and rehearsal footage from stuff that hadn't been on that video.<p>

"Okay, you see there?" Luke pointed. "If you could just let go of that spin, we can land this thing. Those guys may have our tapes, but that won't stop us. Trust me." I smiled at Luke's determination.

"I do trust you. We can do this, Luke" I grabbed his shoulder. "We can."

"If we pull this off, we'll kill it onstage. Julien won't know what hit him." Luke sounded really excited. I was glad to see the leak hadn't gotten to him too badly.

"What happened between you two?" We both looked back. Natalie was leaning against the door, arms crossed, watching us, an odd look on her face.

"Me and Julien?" she nodded. "He used to be a Pirate. We used to be best friends back in the day, but as time went on, things changed."

"How do you mean, he changed?" Natalie asked, pressing Luke. Her eyes looked watery, and I was a little worried for her.

"We found out he had a gambling problem" Luke explained. "He wound up in bad debts, so desperate that he bet against our own house and threw the battle to win the bet."

"He threw a battle to win a bet?" Natalie sounded horrified.

"The whole house was devastated, so we had to kick him out" Luke continued. "He's been trying to take us down ever since. The crazy thing is, if we don't win the World Jam, he could actually do it" Luke admitted.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulder, offering some comfort.

* * *

><p>My phone beeped. I was in my dorm room – for once – trying to sleep. I groaned and picked up my phone before smiling. It was Luke.<p>

_I finished the film_.

I smiled at the message. So, he had listened to me.

_That's great! You gonna show Natalie?_

It wasn't even a second before he responded.

_Yeah, I think so._

I smiled and lay back in bed. But then my phone went off again.

_Natalie's gone_.

* * *

><p>Luke had asked to meet Moose, and he had told Moose to bring me.<p>

We met at the Vault. Luke looked so sad as he pulled me into a hug. I hugged him tightly as he buried his face into my hair. He sat down, pulling me into his lap, clutching me with one arm, his other hand holding his phone.

Moose sat across from us. Luke flipped open his phone to a message.

_We need to talk. Come to my party tonight. Bring Adriana_. Under the words was a picture showing the location of the party.

"Look what I just got from Natalie" he showed me the message before handing the phone to Moose.

"What does it mean?"

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out" Luke took the phone back. He looked at me from over my shoulder. "Will you go with me?"

I nodded without smiling, standing up so he could stand as well.

"Come with me" Luke looked at Moose.

"Me?" Moose was surprised.

"Yeah. I need you."

"I have a Halloween party tonight. I man, I would, but I can't miss it" Moose explained.

"College parties start late. I'll get you back in time, I promise" Luke dismissed Moose's worry.

"I'm supposed to be Ashley Olsen, man" I snorted at Moose's comment.

"Ashley Olsen?" Luke laughed.

"Camille's idea?" I smiled knowingly.

Moose nodded. "Yeah. You know how long it takes to straighten this hair?" Moose said pseudo-seriously.

"Come on, you're my boy" Luke pleaded. He held out his hand for Moose to grab. "It's been a long day, man. I need a good friend right now."

Moose thought for a moment. "All right" he smiled, clasping Luke's hand. "I got your back."

I smiled, before glancing at my phone. "I'll meet you guys there" I told them absent-mindedly, waving them off as I left to change.

_Fancy dress. Bring a mask. Natalie._

* * *

><p>"There's got to be another way" I heard Luke's voice as I walked down.<p>

"Another way to what?" I asked, making them both turn.

"Wow" Luke's jaw dropped.

I smiled. I was wearing a bright red dress that flattered my skin tone. It was sleeveless and tight until it reached my waist. The skirt had a lot of extra material, so that when I danced the dress floated around me. It had a black sash around the waist, and black detailing.

I had paired it with a black lace mask and black heels. I left my hair down, leaving the waves alone as they fell down my shoulders and back. The gold earrings were the only jewelry I wore besides the golden charm anklet.

"Another way to get into the party. It's invite-only" Moose explained, as Luke was still stunned.

Just then, a rack of black-and-white servants wear went by in the kitchen, catching Luke's eye. We all shared a look, and nodded. I followed the boys inside.

"And now, the broken tango" a woman announced s we entered. I was on both boys' arms as we walked into the ballroom.

"Look at this place" I saw, in the middle, a group of people were dancing. They were dressed exactly like Luke, even the mask. He must have taken a suit that belonged to the dancers. "Come on" he pulled me to the floor.

"Where you going? Luke! Adriana!"

We left Moose behind as we both stepped into line, cautiously looking around.

There was Natalie, just down the line from me. What was she doing here? What was going on?

I didn't have much time to ponder as I was quickly spun. I collided with Luke, nearly wrapping myself around him.

"I got you" I felt his breath on my ear, and my breath caught. I wanted to close my eyes and focus on only him, but I wouldn't embarrass both of us like that.

I had never danced with Luke like this. I was used to dancing sensual dances like this, but not when I had feeling for my partner, not the way I felt about Luke.

Every movement was hypnotizing, and I could feel the passion I felt when dancing magnify in Luke's arms as I held me tightly or trailed his figures along my body.

The music ended. I had only leg on the floor, another around Luke's hip, his hand holding my skirt up, resting on my thigh as I lay back, arms out stretched, my head nearly touching the floor.

He slowly pulled me up, my leg still around his hip, my arms holding his shoulders tightly as he supported my back to I wouldn't fall. His hands fell to my waist as my leg dropped, our chests heaving at the intimacy of the dance.

The moment was broken when we both felt a hand grab us both, pulling us off the floor. "Come with me" Natalie's voice was quite as she tugged us along.


	8. Pirates meet MSA

**A/N – Almost finished. I'm not sure if I'm going to do a fic for Step Up 4 yet, I'll decide sometime after I see the new Step Up movie in August. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>She led us up the stairs. We were standing on the balcony that wrapped around the room, hiding behind one of the giant columns.<p>

"We have something for you" Luke said, digging into his pocket. I was a little stunned at his use of the word, 'we'.

He pulled out the disk, titled Born From A Boombox, A Luke Ketcher Film. He held it out to her. "I hope you like it."

"Your film?" Natalie's voice clearly said how touched she was by the gesture. "You finished it?" Luke grinned and curled his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

"I'm so happy you finished it!" Natalie clapped softly, then hugged us both.

"Luke" a masculine voice called casually. It was Julien. All happiness left Luke's face as his grin around me tightened. "I'm so glad you made it. You know, I was a little concerned that you wouldn't let the invitation in time."

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked roughly.

"Julien. You invited them." Natalie's voice was accusatory.

"What? I just wanted to invite them to come celebrate the birthday of my amazing and lovely sister" Julien said innocently.

"Please tell me he's joking" I pleaded, searching Natalie's face for any sign of a lie.

Natalie's mouth opened and shut, but no words came out.

"Wow" Luke pulled me away from them both a little.

"I'm so sorry" Natalie apologized hoarsely.

"Sorry?" I cried. "This was all a lie, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was" Julien agreed easily.

"Shut up, Julien" Natalie snapped.

'Why?' Julien tried to sound hurt. "It was."

"Listen, as first it was, and then I got to know you, okay? And I met Adriana, and I learned about you guys, and we became friends. All of that, it was real. That's why I had to leave" Natalie explained desperately.

I couldn't listen to her. She's lied. Who knew what she was telling the truth about, if she was at all. My anger was welling up inside of me.

I could feel the tears streaming down my eyes. This whole time, I had been confiding in her, spilling my guts to her, being her friend, and she was lying! Probably feeding Julien all the gossip, making fun of me behind my back.

Luke let go of my waist and grabbed my hand as we both walked away.

"Luke, I'm gonna go with Moose" I whispered once we were out of the building, turning around so I was facing him. "I have classes tomorrow, and we both need some sleep."

Luke nodded wordlessly as I hugged him goodnight, kissing him on the cheek, and walked away.

I didn't know everything was going to fall apart.

* * *

><p>The next day, Luke wouldn't answer any of my massages or calls. I headed to the vault during lunch, but there was a pink Property Seizure sign on the door.<p>

So, that was it. The Pirates were done. And I was thrown away like garbage.

I had no one.

Camille was pissed at both me and Moose.

Moose was upset and trying to fix things with Camille.

Natalie was a liar.

Luke left me behind.

I was all alone.

Then I realized, that wasn't necessarily true. I pulled out my phone and dialed a familiar number.

"_Hello?_"

"Hey Jenna. Listen, thing have completely fallen apart in New York, and we both could use your help, do you think…"

* * *

><p><strong>3<strong>**rd**** POV**

"Okay, that's cool, Moose, but how are we gonna get everyone together…"

"I had to get everybody here somehow, man" Moose cut him off.

Luke looked up quickly in surprise. Standing in front of him were the Pirates, the true Pirates. The Ticks, the Santiago Twins, Jacob, Jason, Vladd, Anala, and B.

"Man, did I miss you guys" Luke grinned. "My mornings are way too quiet without you guys yapping" he pointed at the twins.

"You see? I told you he would miss up" Santiago Uno cried happily to his twin, who nodded and smiled.

"There's someone that really missed him too" Jacob said with a knowing grin, which was returned by the rest of the house.

"What?" Luke was about to ask when they parted. Behind them stood a nervous, fidgeting girl with loose black hair, shiny brown eyes, in jeans and a tank top, kicking the street in her sneakers with her hands behind her back.

"Adriana" Luke sighed. He stepped forward, his arms out to embrace her. That was all it took for Adriana to race into his arms, leaping onto him with all her might, forcing his to stumble back as he took on her weight.

"I'm so sorry I left you" Luke whispered into her hair as he clutched her tightly. Adriana hugged Luke with all her strength, her legs bent as the knees so her feet were in the air.

"I missed you" she cried with wet eyes, slowly lowering her feet so she could pull away. Then, she smacked his arm. The crew laughed as Luke cried out, grabbing his arm where she hit him.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Never do that to me again, do you hear me Luke Ketcher? I will not hesitate to give you a patada en el trasero!"

"What?"

"Kick in the ass" the Santiago Twins translated together.

Luke chuckled and hugged his little hot-blooded Spanish dancer to him. "I will never leave you again" he swore, kissing her head before pulled her back to his chest, holding her around her waist, and looking at his crew.

"Look, I know the odds are against us. We have no house, no routine. Hell, I don't even know how we're going to do this. But I believe in us and I know you do, too. We've come way too far to stop now. I know we can win this."

"We be the Pirates" everyone started chanting, boosting moral.

"But we still don't have a place to rehearse" Jacob reminded Luke and Adriana.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Moose says he found us a place" Luke assured him.

* * *

><p><strong>Adriana's POV<strong>

Moose led us through the carnival into an arcade that had probably seen better days.

Looking around, we heard a familiar voice yelling something in a language I didn't understand. But that didn't matter, Moose and I both knew who it was.

"Kido!" we both cried happily.

Kido cried happily and jumped over the counter, fist bumping Moose and hugging me.

"What's up?"

"I miss you" Kido said in her adorable, innocent, childish way.

"I miss you. Come here, give me a hug, I want a hug too" Kido hugged Moose.

"Guys!" I called, waving them over. "This is Kido" I introduced.

"We used to dance together in high school" Moose explained.

"Am I missing something?" Jacob understandably asked, looking around. "What do these games have to do with the World Jam?"

"You said you needed space, right?" Kido said in her thick accent. "I got you, brother."

We fallowed Kido to the back. "Come on, this way. Watch your step. You're gonna like this place. Just come" it was getting darker the further we walked. When we stopped, Kido flipped a switch, turning on the lights.

"Ta-da! I told you" it was a very large room, which would be great for rehearsing… if it wasn't filled with old arcade games.

The crew dispersed, looking around, some liking the space, others not so much.

"Who do they belong to?" Anala asked. I looked over to see what she was talking about. It was a couple of younger kids, maybe six or seven.

"Oh, me. Yeah, I watch them after school because their parents work here" Kido explained.

"I don't know, guys" A Tick said hesitantly. "Do you think this is gonna work?"

"There's so much junk" Jason added. "There's no room and we barely have any dancers."

"Yeah, and the Samurai, they outnumber us two to one" Another Tick said.

Just then, there was a loud buzzing sound. Moose and I grinned.

"I don't know about the junk, but as far as dancers go…" I smiled mysteriously as I went over to a warehouse door. The followed me over. I hit the bottom to open the door to reveal the old gang.

"Oh, my God! MSA crew! Long time, no see" Kido screamed excitedly, running over to hug Monster.

"Kido! You ruined our slow-motion thing!" Cable playfully scolded her.

"Jenna!"

"Moose!"

The little blonde girl screamed with a surprisingly loud voice as she hugged Moose before planting a very public kiss on his lips.

"Whoa, whoa, who's that?" Jason asked, pointing at the couple.

Once Mouth had pulled away, Moose turned to the Pirates, looking _very_ happy. "Guys, this is my girlfriend, Jenna. Or, more publically known as the Baltimore Big Mouth."

The entire crew was jaw-droopingly stunned, making the MSA kids laugh.

"I made a call to Mouth, here" I nudged the girl with my elbow, "After everything went down. She made some calls, called in some favors and got us some extra dancers."

"Pirates, meet the MSA crew" Moose introduced.

"Hey, let's show them what we got" Kido suggested, banging her fist onto an old juke box. I had to admit, it was a good idea. Without Andie and Chase, the MSA crew didn't look like much.

The music started right up, and we all clapped. "A highly good idea, Kido" Moose praised. "Alright, first we got a floor master, Monster."

The Pirates were starting to get impressed.

"We got Cable, the man with no bones" I introduced, giving him his turn to show off.

"Fly. Fly can groove and shake" Moose told them. The Santiago twins seemed fond of her, and now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure they're taller than her, too.

"The popping tapper, Hair!" Moose laughed. I was a little surprised when I saw that Hair had cut off his hair, but he still looked good.

"And last but not least, Smiles, ladies and gentlemen" I cried, giving a loud applause for one of my favorite guys.

"All right, guys. I think this is gonna work" Luke nodded, shooting a smile at me. I winked.

"'Work'?" Kido scoffed. "We gonna kick some ass."

Vladd did his robot thing and held out a hind for Kid to high five.

The two crews met up, getting to know each other while we cleared up the space so we could rehearse. We spent our days dancing, teaching each other moves and coming up with a routine. Every now and then I would spy Luke with a camera. I always smiled.

Moose and Jason started working on their stuff again. I wasn't sure what it was until they called us all over one day.

"Hey guys, check this out!" Moose called. "This is what I've made for the World Jam" In front of Moose was a light grid.

"Imagine these lights on this shirt" Jason explained.

Then the lights sparked, starting a fire until cable got the fire extinguisher.

"That didn't work" Monster said pessimistically.

"Well, try again" Mouth said like it was obvious, wrapping her arms around Moose's neck, wiping off his cheek before planting a kiss there.

Another day, we were taking a break and say the kids Kido watches dancing on a machine. They were insane! Moose, Luke, and I shared look. We smiled.


	9. Chasing Dreams

**A/N – Last chapter, folks. Like I said, I'm not sure if I'm going to do another Step Up fic, we'll have to wait and see. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>It was the day of the World Jam. We were all nervous. Luke had told me about Carlos' visit, and I was pissed, at him, at Julien, at all of them.<p>

"Coming up next, the World Jam Championship battle. The House of Pirates versus the House of Samurai. And this battle is the battle you won't forget" Grandmaster Caz called as we walked in, the Samurai across from us.

"Luke, Ana" Natalie suddenly grabbed us, pulling us aside.

"I'm so sorry" she said. I could hear the sincerity in her voice. "I know I lied to you both, but our friendship was real Natalie promised.

I had thought about Natalie a lot after that party, after the Pirates broke up. I wasn't sure if I was ready to forgive her, but I think I was ready to give her a shot.

I just wasn't sure Luke felt the same.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm taking a train to California. And I wouldn't have the courage to do that without you two. I know you have dreams, too. This is crazy, but come with me?"

"What makes you think I would trust you again?" Luke asked, his voice hard.

"Because that person that I was only with you… That's who I really am."

"Luke" I said softly. He looked at me. "You're a filmmaker. California's your shot" I told him sadly.

"What about you?" he asked, his hand on my cheek. I kissed his palm. "Moose and Mouth have a long distance relationship. I'm sure we'd make it work."

"Right about now, Pirates to the stage!" Grandmaster Caz yelled on the mic. "Let's hear it for the pirates, y'all!"

The music started as we took the stage. Caz called the Samurai to the stage. We started the battle.

Adding the MSA crew to the Pirates gave us an edge we hadn't had before. The Samurai were good, but they had a lot of dancers standing still.

But the Samurai had the crowd. And they were good.

"It looks like it's over, people!" Caz cried. "There's no way the Pirates can come back form this!"

And then Natalie jumps in, throwing out some serious moves. "Oh, what's this? The Pirates are answering back!" Caz calls.

Julien grabs Natalie, and both crews have to grab them to separate them. Once Natalie was back with the Pirates, she looked at me. "You two kill it. We can still do this" she told me.

I looked over at Luke, who nodded. I faced forward. We stepped up. It was time to kill it.

The music changed, the crowd was in our favor. It was time. "All right, y'all. Let's go!" we stripped off our heavy jacket and huddled. "What are they doing?" I vaguely heard as we broke apart, shirts lighting up.

"Oh! Oh, are you kidding me?"

The colors changed as we danced, not a single spark. The contrasting colors were amazing, and I could barely hold my laughter at Moose, who's shirt, pants, and shoes all lit up.

"It's getting tribal in here!" Caz yelled as we pounded our fists to Moose's feet and the drum beat. Then, the lasers in our hands kick on. Jason and moose outdid themselves.

Moose was our conductor, the best dancer, really.

Then, we let the kids out.

"Now, here's the Pirate shorties!" Caz laughed. We all laughed at the little kids showed up the Samurai until they scampered off stage.

And then, it was all over.

"That's it, that's it. It's a wrap" Caz called over the screaming crowd. "And both of our finalists did their thing" the Samurai were trying very hard to look like they weren't worried.

"But now, it's time or our judges to decide who's going home with the $100,000." Caz turned to the three judges. "Judges, are you ready with your decision? Whose flag you gonna raise?"

It was a tense moment while they deliberated.

"Black and gold, for the Samurai? Or red and black, for the Pirates?" Caz's constant questions only made me more nervous, though I knew he was being paid to entertain, not be quiet.

Finally, _finally_, the middle judge stood and threw up the red and black flag.

"Pirates!"

It was deafening. The sheer excitement was thrumming through the air.

I spotted Luke walking away from the crowd and followed him. He picked up Natalie's jacket, with the California Film Academy admission folder and the letter she wrote.

"You should go" I told him. He looked at me like I was crazy. "She's right" I shrugged. "You deserve to live your dreams, Luke. And you're damn good."

"You can go, if you want" Jacob told him from in front of him. "I will take care of everything until you get back."

Luke looked like he wanted to cry at Jacob's loyalty.

"You gave us the chance to live our dreams and now it is time for you to go and live your dreams" Jacob told him.

I waked away, leaving Luke to his thoughts. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

><p><em>You know, some famous guy once said 'To travel is better than to arrive.' And I was like, 'What?' Because I used to think that there is only one path to take to where you want to get to be in life. <em>

_But if you choose that one path, it doesn't mean you have to abandon all the together ones. I realized that it's actually what happens along the way that counts. The stumbles, and the falls, and the friendships._

_It's the journey not the destination. You just gotta, I guess, trust that the future will work itself out like it's supposed to._

* * *

><p><strong>3<strong>**rd**** POV**

Natalie stood in line for the ticket, sure Luke wasn't going to show up. There goes all that planning, all that faith.

And then, she spotted the green Neo Fly.

And the orange one further down.

And a blue one.

There were three on a random guy's shoulder.

"What happened, did you forget something?" Jacob's loud voice surprised her as her eyes jumped from the lights to the Pirates, who were all standing there, in the middle of the station.

"I think you forgot to say goodbye" a Tick suggested.

Natalie smiled at their chatter, unable to really hear their words. "I'm gonna miss you guys" Natalie cried, her eyes filling with tears as she claimed hugs.

"Come on, don't cry, don't cry"

"Where's Luke?" Natalie had to wonder if it was all worth it.

Jacob looked over her shoulder and smiled, causing Natalie to turn around.

Luke was coming down the stairs, ticket in one hand, bag in another, looking around. Finally, he found them, and headed to them.

"Ready?" she asked him, hugging him.

"I don't know" Luke said honestly as she pulled away and stepped back. "I'm not sure if I can leave Adriana, dream or no. I mean…"

"I guess it's a good thing you're not leaving her behind, then" Moose interrupted him. Luke looked over at them suspiciously, especially when Natalie smiled at something behind him.

"After all, I already bought my ticket"

Luke spun around. Adriana stood in an army green dress, black shoes and belt, duffle bag trailing behind her. She glanced down, then looked back at Luke. "Jenna's gonna keep my stuff, just in case I need it."

Without a word, Luke grabbed her and kissed her, hard. He poured everything he felt into that one, single kiss, clutching her like a lifeline.

Everyone cheered.

"I love you" Adriana gasped when they separated. "And I will follow you to the ends of the Earth if I have to."

"What about school?" Luke didn't want her to throw away her education because of him.

"I'm transferring. It's not like I can't go to school for dance anywhere." Adriana grinned. Luke was filled with relief.

"And Adriana?" she looked up. "I love you to" and he kissed her again.

The cries got louder as Moose took that opportunity to kiss his girlfriend.

"Together?" Luke asked, pulling away and holding out his hand.

Adriana didn't even hesitate as she grabbed his hand. "Together."

Luke grabbed a wrapped box and they walked over to Moose. "This is for you, man" Luke handed the box to Moose. "We'll see you soon" Luke promised. "Blow it up"

They did Moose's handshake.

"You're BFAB. Remember that" Luke ordered. "Take care of the house, guys."

"Take care of my sister, Luke!" Moose shouted after them as they walked away.

"Always" Luke swore, kissing her hand as they turned and walked away.

"Open it!" Camille demanded, grabbing the lid from Moose as he pulled it off. Moose pulled out a one shoe of a pair of Limited addition gunmetal Nike dunks, the shoes that started it all.

"No way!" the crew cried. They were Luke's lucky shoes. Moose grinned.

"Let's go party, people!"


End file.
